


He (Dreamed He) Was Burning

by seekeronthepath



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Coma, Gen, Mythology References, Nightmares, Season/Series 01, how/why peter went mad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-03-29 14:46:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3900193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekeronthepath/pseuds/seekeronthepath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses into Peter Hale's state of mind between the Hale House Fire and his first death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He (Dreamed He) Was Burning

He stirred.

Something was wrong.

He was alone.

Where was he?

He was never alone.

What had happened?

Something was wrong.

He faded.

\-----

He dreamed.

He dreamed of wolves chasing butterflies, and foxes hunting wolves.

He dreamed of the thrill of the hunt and the chase.

He dreamed of a skull and a river rock in his two hands, smoother than skin.

He dreamed of fire.

He dreamed of the sky as a lens that focused the sunlight on people like ants.

He dreamed of a log cabin remade into a pyre.

He dreamed that he put wicks in his flesh and set them alight, and she told him he was their guide.

He dreamed of fire.

He dreamed.

\-----

He stirred.

Something was wrong.

He was alone.

He had dreamed of fire.

Something was wrong.

He faded.

\-----

He dreamed of a low hedge-maze made of rowan, a spiral labyrinth with a single path, but he never got closer to the centre.

He dreamed of a lady at a crossroads, with a hound by her side, and a torch in her hand.

He dreamed of a basement where he burned, and the screams were brighter than the moon.

\-----

He stirred.

He was alone.

There were three pack ties in his heart, but they were far away.

He was alone.

He faded.

_____

He dreamed that he fled from the red-eared hounds of Annwfn, from the red-eyed hounds of the Wild Hunt, from the black dog of death.

He dreamed that the moon shot him with an arrow in the heart, and the sun healed it with song.

He dreamed that the world was a stone on his chest, and he could not breathe with the weight of it.

_____

He stirred.

(He had dreamed that) there had been a fire.

(He had dreamed that) he had burned.

(He had dreamed that) he was burning.

He was alone. (It was not a dream.)

Was he dead?

It would make sense, if he were dead.

He faded.

\-----

He dreamed that he lay on a hospital bed, and no one else was there.

He dreamed that half of him was burned, burning, and the other half human-cold.

He dreamed that his flesh was full of mountain ash and wolfsbane, and he could not move.

\-----

He stirred.

He was in a hospital bed. (It was not a dream.)

He had burned. (It was not a dream.)

He was alone.

He faded.

\-----

The moon itched when she rose.

He was alone, without pack. (He could feel the ties, but they were not here. He was alone.)

He was burning, and he could not heal.

He could not move.

He could not howl.

\-----

He stirred.

There had been a fire, he thought.

(Burning, screaming, _fearfearpainfearlosspainfearpainangerpainlosslossfearpainpainpainlosspainlosslosspain_ ).

There had been a fire.

He faded.

\-----

He dreamed that rowan seeds were planted beneath his skin.

He dreamed that he hid from a forest fire in the hollow heart of a yew.

He dreamed that he sought the shade of a willow tree, but it had cried its leaves away.

_____

He stirred.

There had been a fire.

He was alone.

They had burned. (They had screamed.)

He had burned. (He had screamed.)

They were dead.

He was not.

He faded.

_____

He dreamed that the house was full of family.

He dreamed that they smelled wolfsbane, and fled to the earth.

He dreamed that the low ways were barred by rowan, and the high by fire.

\-----

He stirred.

There had been a fire.

They were dead.

He was burning, and alone.

He should be dead.

He faded.

\----- 

Time passed.

Sometimes, he dreamed.

Sometimes, he remembered.

He remembered the pack, collected together for Beltane, in their house. They all were there, except for Laura and Derek, who had school during the day. (The others were homeschooled, or had graduated and taken vacation, but school was important.) The pack was together for Beltane, and hunters came. The hunters masked their way until there was a great ring of mountain ash around the house. Olivia had offered to break it, but the hunters shot covering fire and they could not risk it. They did not shoot the wolves. They had wolfsbane smoke bombs, and buckshot made of rowan, and the pack retreated to the house. They retreated to the basement, and a fire began above them. The children were frightened, and confused. They were in pain, and their pack was afraid. They clawed at their minders, screaming in fear and anger, and they could hear no truth in the adult's reassurances. The fire burned above them, and the smoke was full of wolfsbane and rowan, and Talia led the way to the hidden door, to find it blocked. The fire raged above them, and the smoke was full of wolfsbane and rowan, and there was no way out. Talia posted guards at the tunnels and the stairs, and the pack huddled for comfort as the flames drew nearer. The children were screaming in fear, and the adults sang to soothe them, but their voices wavered with the lies they sang, and their breath caught with the smoke. They were dying, and they could feel themselves struggling for air, struggling to heal, struggling with the wolfsbane and rowan. The lights were off, but their eyes were bright, and the fire made a hellish glow above them. They could hear the hunters rejoicing, and they knew that they would die. He gathered the children in his arms, and the pack gathered around them, and they waited. And they burned. And he burned. And they screamed. And he screamed. And they died.

\-----

The wolf stirred.

It was not him, now. It was feral, angry and alone. It lived beneath his skin and raged at the pain, snapped at the nurses, snarled at the memories. As the moon waxed, he could feel it tugging at the rowan scars, fighting its bonds. Little by little, it was healing him, driving the wolfsbane from his flesh, the rowan from his skin. It healed him with its rage, and its rage burned hot.

\-----

Time passed.

Sometimes, he dreamed.

Sometimes, he remembered.

Sometimes, he woke enough to listen.

He could hear the nurses talk to him - some kind, some thoughtless. Some spoke of their own lives, or the town gossip. Some narrated their actions. One spoke of arson. He remembered her voice.

\-----

Time passed.

Sometimes, he dreamed.

Sometimes, he remembered.

Sometimes, he woke, and he could not move.

\-----

Time passed.

He was healing - slowly, slowly.

The rowan made him heal human-slow, and the wolfsbane made him more than human-weak. The nurses kept him cold, and fed him little, for they did not understand.

But he was healing.

\-----

Time passed.

He woke, and knew that he could move. No one was there.

He woke, and knew that he could move. He moved, and knew that he was weak.

He woke, and knew that he was weak. He waited.

\-----

Time passed.

When no one was there, he flexed and stretched, and knew that he was weak.

He waited. The nurse that spoke of arson came. She was unlike the others. She smelt of lust and madness.

One day, when she came, he opened his eyes, and held a finger to his lips. She did not tell anyone.

\-----

Time passed.

When he slept, he dreamed of fire.

When he woke, the nurse helped him to discover it.

When the wolf woke, it raged beneath his skin, and tore at its bonds, and tore at the pack ties that could not comfort it.

\-----

Time passed.

The nurse became his hands and voice in the world of men. He sent her seeking, tracking, and she brought to him news of his enemies.

In darkness, she would take him from his room and reveal him to the earth and sky.

Under her hungry eye, he rebuilt his strength

\-----

Time passed.

One night, he woke in the forest, with a deer at his feet that the wolf had killed. He had no use for the corpse, but he would not show the nurse that weakness, so he drew revenge upon its skin.

\-----

Time passed.

He dreamed that an alpha - (not) his alpha, (not) his pack - came, and spoke to him in sorrow and grief and confusion.

He woke from the wolf with his claws in her back, the red light dying from her eyes. He did not know how he had killed her.

He was an alpha now, and it burned.

\-----

He was weak (stronger).

He was wounded (healing).

He was alone (one pack-tie left in his heart).

\-----

He dreamed that he prowled the woods, and found two boys - one clumsy and loud, one wary and steady.

He dreamed that he bit one, but not the other.

He woke with a new pack-tie in his heart.

\-----

Time passed.

He called to his new beta with the voice of power, not family. (His family was gone.) He did not aid his beta, but he called for the betas aid.

(He hunted his enemies. The beta refused to join the chase.)

(The wolf raged beneath his skin. In his dreams the wolf hunted and killed. In his dreams the wolf was called to the school, and fought his not/pack there.)

With his betas and his hunt he grew hale and strong, until he no longer needed the nurse with the hungry eyes. He bit another, and killed the nurse.

He hunted the silver queen, and found his wary beta a fool, and the fool wise.

He pursued his revenge to its end, and found it hollow.

\-----

He was burning. True fire, as hot as anger, as fierce as hate, as bright as alpha's eyes. He was burning.

His nephew (not-pack) comes to him with despair in his eyes.

His nephew (not-pack) holds a claw to his throat.

His nephew (not-pack) kills him.

The fire goes out.

**Author's Note:**

> (Just to be clear, by the way - rowan and mountain ash are the same thing, and Peter usually calls it rowan.)
> 
> I started writing this because I was trying to understand how I wanted to write resurrected Peter, and I needed context. He may be out of character - I don't really watch Teen Wolf. (Hence also my vagueness about the sequence of events during season one.)
> 
> Your comments and kudos are appreciated - what did you think?


End file.
